


A find

by FiKate



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Books, Captivity, Gen, Gift Fic, Libraries & Librarians, Maps, Memories, Recruitment, SHIELD, Trust
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-26
Updated: 2013-04-26
Packaged: 2017-12-09 12:58:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/774468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FiKate/pseuds/FiKate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A bleated birthday fic for Ashie who requested a story about a woman and books. This was the result. Set after my fic; <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/458143">Get Your Claws In</a> as Natasha is learning about SHIELD and they are learning about her, she finds the library. I hope you like it, Ashie.</p><p>Mentions of violence as well as suggestions of memory modification.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A find

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ashen_key](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashen_key/gifts).



After two weeks of polite interrogation, not so polite sparring with Barton and far too many careful conversations, they agreed to allow her more access. It was all done grudgingly except for two people, Barton and the older woman who had spoken to her before, Carter. They didn’t treat her as if she was unexploded ordnance, though they did examine her with as much care as the others.

Barton was more open with his curiosity, they spent an afternoon discussing the merits of throwing knives versus the arrows he preferred. It was an intriguing conversation as he moved it around his past and tried to learn more of hers, she allowed some truths to come out as he was offering up a few of his own. Carter instead did everything in her own way, she made a junior agent bring them tea and sugary cookies and spoke of how she had missed them during the war. When she began to to go on about what she was meant to have learned as a young woman, Natasha did laugh. It was a story that she knew well and had even tried on herself, in Prague, she had been a British debutante flirting with danger to take down a Sinn Fein leader for a mission. She allowed a few truths that didn’t risk too much out, that she had been taught to dance which someone had noticed, they asked about it during an interrogation. Carter though went deeper over tea in a way that was almost clumsy to Natasha, she joked about knife fighting and men she never got to dance with again. Natasha would not rise to such easy bait, this woman was not her friend though in time could be a useful ally. Barton could be as well if she chose to stay, they might think they decide that but she does.

When they next opened the door, they provided her with a map, she raised her eyebrows at the agent who gave it to her, it was a paper map, “This is where you can go.”

“Why is it on paper?”

“Because that’s what we’re giving you.”

“Thank you,” The agent left, closing the door but not locking it. The map seemed like something given to a tourist with not enough details and hints of what was being hidden. It would have to do for now and there was a room labeled library. That seemed too good to be true, perhaps they didn’t realize how much they had given her.

According to the map, the library was a few turns away, all of the halls had the familiar sterile look of facilities, the white was creamier here than those in Russia and its former states. There had been the odd one in France which had blue walls, it was pretty in a place that didn’t know what to do with it. When she asked the history of it, no two stories were the same and she gave up trying to figure it out after she had the information she needed. After four turns and passing three agents who all carefully didn’t reach for anything, she came upon the library.

The doors were double of nice wood, they could easily be turned into a blocking wall, inside the books were on rolling shelves and she smiled, that meant there was a good sized collection. At the far back, there even seemed to be a vault though it could be a climate controlled room. Near the front was a curving desk, solid oak, a wall lined with magazines and journals and tucked into the corners; outlets, computers, more books and chairs. From behind the desk, a woman of about Agent Carter’s age rose with a smile, “You must be the new recruit. I don’t have time to give you a proper tour, but we have the latest editions of everything and in that corner are the best books for rereading.”

Natasha smiled and decided that here she would allow some of her pleasure to show, it was a nice library.

After walking fully around the space, she found the corner which contained children’s books in many languages with a majority of them in English. She should update herself on the news, it would never do to fall behind but she found an old but intact copy of Pushkin’s fairy tales in Russian. The last time she had seen such a volume was in Leningrad, someone had once read to her from it though she couldn’t recall their face just the scent of pipesmoke.

Carter found her reading an hour and a half later with a smile, “I didn’t mean to disturb you but I wanted to give you a proper tour.”

She carefully closed the book, she would remember her place and put it back on the shelf, “Thank you, I would appreciate that.”

Later she would return here and see what other finds there were, this might be a place for her to learn.


End file.
